


"the single longest day of our lives"

by Qotice



Category: Petscop (Web Series)
Genre: Character Death, Christmas, Depression, Drowning, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Mother-Son Relationship, Other, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:28:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27563047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qotice/pseuds/Qotice
Summary: “'Rainer' gave this gift to us on Christmas 1997 and 2000. It was the single longest day of our lives. We were all certain he was dead at the time. He had been missing since June 1997 and 2000”A personal interpretation and telling of the events that occurred on Christmas 1997 and 2000.
Relationships: Jill & Anna Mark, Rainer & Jill
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	1. BEGIN RECORDING: PART 1

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warning: Depressing Thoughts, Suicidal Thoughts.
> 
> This fanfiction's first draft is fully written, I will release the chapters as I revise, edit and rewrite each part.  
> This work is really dark, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

On Christmas day 1997, a man stood outside a black-painted house. To most people that knew him, the man went by the pseudonym, “Rainer”, but his actual name was Daniel Hammond. Daniel stared at the black house in front of him, it belonged to his aunt, Anna Mark. Inside the house were his aunt, younger cousin, Paul, stepfather, Thomas, and mother, Jill.

The bitter winter wind stung his face as he briefly imagined what they did inside. While he stood apart from them, he imagined they were celebrating the holiday as a family. Daniel had not seen his family since June earlier that year. His disappearance was attributed to the object he held in his hand.

Clutched between his fingers and palm, was a CD case. Within that, a CD that held the driving force of his will to live. For the past many months since his disappearance, the recordings burned onto the CD were everything that had propelled him forward. It was all that mattered to Daniel, and nothing else would ever matter. It drove him to see its completion, and he succeeded- it was done.

Now, he was to present his gift of the CD to the family.

Daniel glanced down at the plastic casing; the cold winter sun’s glare obscured the CD’s hand-written title. He didn’t need to read the title; he knew what it read; “ _Petscop Recordings_ ”. Besides, he had only glanced at the case to check his reflection.

The face of a tired man reflected at Daniel. Under his staring bloodshot eyes, hung darken bags acquired from many restless nights spent working. Simply put, he looked like shit- but Daniel could not care.

He could code an entire video game, design a hundred assets for it, and write its entire soundtrack- but for the life of him, he could not do the simple task of caring.

When he was a younger man - a different man - he once had a well of emotions. Creativity, aspirations, inspiration, and passions poured out of him. No one who knew him during that time would ever think it would stop flowing. In 1995, despite everything, his well ran dry.

In comparison to his past self, he was a stranger. Daniel felt as though he was displaced in a world he was not made for. Unable to belong and unable to relate - an interloper of his own timeline. He could not reconcile who he was now with the person he supposedly had been. Maybe he was never that person to begin with, maybe he had always been this way, and maybe he always will be. He was helpless to alter time.

Though he felt he had little agency, he planned today would end differently.

Determined, Daniel climbed up the black house’s porch steps to ring the doorbell. He had helped paint the house’s walls from green to black, and while they may have changed, the doorbell’s chime had not. A cheerful short tune chimed that matched the demeanor that exuded from within the home. Despite its bleak color pallet, this Christmas, joy was present there. Everyone and everything inside Anna’s house were cocooned with cheer. If Daniel could have felt anything, he would have felt seething envy.

Horrors surrounded the family that they were fully aware of. They knew what had happened, but they were so eager to sweep it under the rug. The family tried to bury the past in an unmarked grave, never to be found. Although he was not proud of it, grave robbery was one of his many talents. Grave robbery is vile, but when the past needed to be dug up, Daniel could not leave it be. It would gnaw at him from the inside out, until all that was left inside of him was a tenebrous pit.

The front door swung open; Anna greeted him. Her face held a superficial veneer of pleasantry as to not appear rude before a stranger. That was what Daniel was to her for a moment, a stranger. She did not recognize him at first. His familiarity changed her polite expression into one of puzzlement before the dawning realization of who he was befell her. When she recognized him, she smiled, however, it could not hide the incredulity in her voice:

“Rainer? Is it really you? Where have you been? Why were you gone for such a long time? Wh-”

“-Here,” Daniel interrupted his aunt, handing her the CD case and quickly pushing past, “It’s done. Can I use your bathroom?”

“Uh,” Dumbfounded, Anna took a moment to process what her nephew-in-law had said. She read the CD case, and sure enough, the words “ _Petscop Recordings_ ” written in permanent marker titled the CD inside.

“It’s done?” She parroted back to him, “Is this a present? Who is it for?” Her unanswered questions unending, and her not averted eyes remaining on his gift in her hands.

In response, Daniel’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly as an expression of his frustration.

“Yeah. It is.” He answered in slight resentment, intentionally answering only one of her queries. He asked again; “Can I use your bathroom?”

Another pause in response.

“Of course.” Anna finally looked up to him, “It’s down the hall, past the kitchen, on your left- but wouldn’t you like to say hello to your family? We haven’t seen you in months!”

“You can tell her where I’ll be-” Daniel cut himself off.

He never thought he would get this far.

“-Boot up the game and play it.” He stated after brief consideration, “It has everything you need to know, and everything I want to say in it.”

Before continuing, he eyed the rest of the family in the living room, still unaware of his presence; “I might take a long time in the bathroom.”

“Uh, okay.” Uncertainty brimmed Anna’s voice, but her nephew-in-law was already walking towards the bathroom. He moved quick enough to not be recognized immediately by anyone.

“Thanks.” He did not look back.


	2. BEGIN RECORDING: PART 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Same warnings apply to this chapter as before.

On Christmas day 1997, the warmth of Christmas lights, the smells of holiday spices, and cheer could not be escaped from within Anna’s house. Despite the past, hope filled the air. Jill discussed with her husband, Thomas, plans for later that evening, like whether they would bother calling her son, Daniel, for the holiday. Thomas advised not to; they remembered the last time they called and the contentious altercation that followed in suit.

A light tug at the hem of Jill’s gown shifted her attention from their conversation. She looked down to see its cause, and to no one’s surprise, it was Paul. The five-year-old held a furrowed brow- an expression Jill wished she were not familiar with seeing on his face. The boy had been through a lot, no thanks to her lowly brother, Marvin. Luckily, through the efforts of the whole family, they helped Paul to forget being the person who had endured so much. He tugged again and asked a question in a soft, small voice.

“Aunty Jill, where’d my mommy go?” Paul’s attachment to his mother was enormous.

After hearing his question, Jill realized how long it had been since Anna went to answer the doorbell ring. Suddenly, Jill was wondering the same thing as her nephew-in-law.

“Um,” Talking to children never came easily to her, “Let me go see where she went.”

Paul let go of her skirt and she patted him on his little head.

“Your Aunty Jill will be right back.” She winked and then walked out of the room to the doorway she suspected Anna might be. Perhaps she was caught up in the jargon and thralls of some salesman who had nothing better to do on Christmas nor any family to be spending it with.

Just as she thought, Anna was standing by the door. Unlike what she suspected, however, was the dumbfounded expression plastered on Anna’s face.

“Who was at the door?” Jill asked, “What’s in your hand?”

Anna looked at her and met her eyes.

“It’s- It was Daniel.”

Despite only being a name, the cheery atmosphere and hope that had hung in the air within the house dissipated in an instant between the two women. Had Daniel witnessed the change firsthand, he would not have been surprised that his name ruined the mood.

“ _Daniel?_ ” Jill did not ask but stated. She needed to confirm to herself what she had heard Anna say.

“Daniel came _here?_ Now of all times? _Where_ is he? _What_ did he come here for?” Not knowing what to ask, on impulse, Jill conducted a rapid-fire interrogation.

She could hardly believe he was back. He had isolated himself from everyone in the family, it was clear to her and everyone else he wanted to be alone. Jill worried about him every day; it was her private obsession. Respite from her worry came in the form of comfort that Anna so graciously offered her. Despite Jill’s brother, Marvin, almost tearing their family apart with everything he had done, Anna still welcomed Jill into her, and her son’s lives. For this, Jill was so grateful. Thomas was a wonderful man, and after her first husband, he was also a welcome change. Even Daniel was beginning to warm up to his presence. However, ever since Michael’s death, her and Thomas grew ever slightly more distant with each day. It was nice that Jill’s bond with Anna meant she still had a shoulder to lean onto.

For Daniel to show up now, on Christmas day of all days, was like an insult. It ruined the whole holiday for Jill. How could she enjoy the rest of the day when now her mind would be consumed with the need to know where her son had been this whole time. Somedays while he was gone, she entertained the thought he had died, but never for long. When those dark thoughts arose, she tried her best to push them down. Her anger arose from his apparent apathy. His entitlement transformed her worry into disgust. The fact he showed his face again on Christmas only reinforced and reignited her ire.

“He finished the recordings, he- he did it.” Anna’s response caught Jill off guard.

She thought he had given up on recording the damned game. Before he isolated himself, anytime Jill asked him about the status of the recordings, he acted defensively. As if he was trying to hide the fact, he made little progress, if any, at all. However, the CD case in Anna’s hands proved her assumptions about him to have been wrong. She looked at the case and wondered, if maybe it was the reason for his disappearance. If, perhaps, he left because he had been working on it the whole time.

Anna handed the game to Jill; they both shared the same dumbstruck expression.

“W-Where is he now?” Jill asked.

“He asked to use the bathroom, I don’t know why- But he told me we should go ahead play the recordings as he said he would be a while.” Anna answered.

“I-” Jill turned to look in the direction of the bathroom – how had she not noticed him walk by? – then she looked back to Anna. “Go start the playback, I’ll be there to watch with you after I have a word with Daniel.”

Jill marched to the bathroom.

“Daniel? Are you in here?” she wrapped her knuckles against the bathroom door. Behind it, she could hear shuffling and a groan.

“Daniel.” She sternly repeated.

“…You haven’t even watched it yet, have you?” he mumbled.

“Where have you been?!”Jill yelled, “You come to this house, and not even take any time to talk to me?!”

In response, there was a moment of silence from him until he spoke again.

“I’m not going to talk to you until after you finish watching the recordings. I worked real hard on them, you know…”

“How dare you talk to me this way!” Jill fumed, “After everything you’ve done! All the people you’ve hurt! You’re still acting like we owe you anything!!” Still, her anger was met with silence. Although, she could hear slight movements from behind the door.

“Fine!” she huffed, “If you’re going to be this way, then be this way! See if anyone cares!” Caustic venom seeped from the tone of her voice, “You clearly don’t, and I’ve learned neither should I! Don’t even bother saying bye!” With that, Jill stormed off.

Daniel stood silently in the bathroom he knew would be his tomb. Before moving an inch, he waited until he heard his mother was gone. He took his mother’s advice and did not say goodbye.


	3. BEGIN RECORDING: PART 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family gets their message and gift from Daniel.  
> Content warning for drowning and suicide.

Anna walked to the living room where Thomas and Paul waited patiently for her return. Her son looked visibly relieved when he saw her. Thomas raised an eyebrow expectantly to silently ask who was at the door and where his wife had gone.

“It was Rainer, he stopped by and gave us this gift,” Anna presented the CD case containing the recordings. “Jill went to have a word with him.”

Thomas shrugged and slightly nodded in understanding, it made sense to him that Jill would want to talk with Daniel. While Daniel was his stepson, tension ran in the blood of his side of the family. 

Anna turned to Paul and bent down to be at his eye level.

“Could you be a dear and boot up your PlayStation?” She asked before putting the CD case in his hands, “We are going to watch this video on it, okay?”

Her son nodded and went to plug his PlayStation into the TV. Despite only being five years old, Paul was more dexterous with his hands than most kids his age. The skill likely developed from being taught to play the piano. Once the TV and PlayStation were fully on, he inserted the disc given to him. His family huddled around the television, eager to see Daniel’s Christmas gift.

The CD loaded and the recording began playback; a playful melody sounded as the title screen of Petscop ran through its animation before zipping to the game’s menu select screen. None of the game’s saves had been used, the first blank save file was selected. Next, the recorded player input “family2” as the save file’s name. Paul’s giddiness to see what his cousin had made withdrew into something more distant. The recording felt strangely familiar, and within him stirred a silent dread.

Then, the first level loaded, a place called the Gift Plane. A sign detailed that the objective of the level was to collect all the pets left in Even Care, but the person playing paid little mind to it. The recorded inputs were methodical and practiced, as if they had something else it wanted to show. The player character, Daniel had called the guardian, marched through the rooms within Even Care, not even attempting to solve the game’s puzzles. Anna’s brow furrowed, she wondered _w_ hat the point of these recordings was. At that moment, Jill re-entered the room. Her irritated expression was interrupted when she caught sight of what played on the TV.

“What did I miss?” Jill asked.

“Not much,” Thomas stated, “although, I’m not really sure what’s happening.”

Right then, the guardian walked into a room featuring an uncatchable bird-thorn monster. No one knew why Daniel considered the design fit to be called a pet. Instead of catching the odd creature, the menu screen pulled up. It appeared to the family watching, as though the player began fumbling around with the controller's buttons, but they did not know that each action was calculated. Then the cheerful tunes of the game ceased.

The guardian walked outside of Even Care. Usually, after doing this, the player would be greeted by the same bright world they had seen before entering, but this time it was different, there was only a dark grassy plane and Anna’s house was there. Anna paused the playback, then looked over to Jill, who looked deep in thought. Her own face was tinted with dread.

“Thomas,” Anna asked, “Could you take Paul into the kitchen to help decorate the Christmas cookies?”

“O-oh- okay…” Paul spoke with hushed words. He was anxious to leave and his face was considerably paler than it had been before they all sat down to watch the recordings. Although, he did not know why.

“Come on, little man.” Thomas gently ushered, “There are cookies to be decorated.” 

He took Paul by his hand and led him away into the kitchen. Once they were gone, Jill gestured for Anna to press play again.

_What puzzle had Daniel made for them?_

* * *

When Care A was caught, Anna’s face paled, she hastily grabbed the remote to press pause. Both women’s discomfort had grown gradually as the recording played back. Despite this and Anna appearing as though she would puke at any moment, Jill urged for her to press play. Jill needed to know what Daniel had made for them. With shaky confidence and hand, Anna pressed play for them to watch. On the recording, Care A’s description appeared and both women read its text:

_“When the emergency began, you were all looking for Care A.”_

Both women sat in silence. Only the sound of Thomas and Paul messing around in the kitchen could be heard when the next line of text appeared.

_“I told you all, we would never find Care A. When Care A goes missing, she goes missing forever.”_

If Anna looked pale before, now she looked like a ghost. Then, the next line of text appeared.

_“My brother didn’t want us to find him, because he knew we were all looking for Michael A.”_

Jill let go of the breath she didn’t know she was holding, her mind racing, wondering why on earth Daniel had written this. Before she was ready to continue, the next line of text appeared.

_“I’m back. This is my present for you.”_

The next line of text appeared.

_“I started it in 1996, for Marvin.”_

The next line of text appeared.

_“If you think they’re worth any effort, see if you can save Care B, or Care NLM. Care B is in the school, of course.”_

The next line of text appeared.

_“Fuck you all, and fuck me as well. Merry Christmas. Check your bathroom now._

_\- Rainer”_

The line of text disappeared, and the playback stopped.

Jill got up, she needed to talk to Daniel.

* * *

“Daniel?! DANIEL?!”

There was no response. Jill rattled the door’s handle, it was locked, she knocked harder

“Daniel, open this door this instant! We read your message and you’d better explain yourself!” Her patience was growing thin, and, again, there was no response.

“Anna! Daniel locked the bathroom door! Do you have any keys to it?!” She called out, she could hear Paul asking quietly to Thomas what the commotion was, and Thomas told the boy not to worry about it.

Anna responded, still in the living room with the recording, “There should be a pair of keys on top of the door frame!”

Sure enough, Jill saw them there when she looked. She took them in her hand and inserted them into the handle’s key hole.

“Since you won’t come out and open the door, I’m coming in!” Jill yelled again, “You’d better explain yourself!”

The keys clicked, the door unlocked, and Jill turned the knob to open the door.

In the bathroom, Daniel laid in the bathtub, still fully clothed and his head submerged under the water.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Jill said, but it took a moment before she registered what the scene was before her. 

When the realization hit Jill, all her boiling anger evaporated immediately.

“Daniel?” she uttered, her eyes going wide.

“Daniel?!” Jill staggered over to her son, still motionless beneath the water.

“DANIEL! DANIEL!” She repeated, in worry and shock. She hoisted him out of the water and laid him on the tiled floor next to her. He wasn’t coughing. He wasn’t breathing. He wasn’t moving at all.

“DANIEL WAKE UP!” She wailed and shook him to get him to do anything, but he did nothing. 

_Not again_ , she thought over and over. _This couldn’t happen to her again, she couldn’t lose another son again. She couldn’t lose the only son she had left._

Jill backed away from Daniel’s cold body.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no.” Jill couldn’t find the strength to stand anymore.

“NO!” She collapsed on the ground and screamed.

The commotion alerted Anna, who rushed over the bathroom to see what was wrong. When she saw what had happened, she went silent and was shocked in place. Jill still sobbed and screamed, she couldn’t see anything through her tears. Anna stepped back from the bathroom and ran to get Thomas.

 _“WHY?!”_ Jill wept, “ _Why me?!?! Why is it my family, of all families!?_ ”

She groveled on the bathroom floor, mere feet away from Daniel, she didn’t know what to do except cry. Jill grasped her hands on the bath mat. Jill grasped at anything as she felt her life falling down around her. 

Nearly drowned out by her sobbing, Jill heard footsteps behind her. A hand placed itself on her back, it was Thomas.

“Where is Rainer?” He asked.

Jill turned to Thomas, infuriated that he’d asked such a question.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHERE IS DANIEL?!?! HE’S DEAD ON THE FUCKING FL-”

She turned to point at her dead son, but there was no one there. Jill was still wet from when she hoisted him out of the bathwater, but when she looked at the tub, it was completely dry. It had been as if Daniel had never even been there.

Jill scrambled to stand up, and she ran past Thomas into the house. Anna stood with Paul, who looked on the verge of tears, terrified of all the commotion. Jill desperately called out;

“DANIEL! DANIEL!” 

Thomas came to her side, trying to calm her down, but still, frantically, she yelled;

“Daniel!”

She looked over to the TV, the recording of Petscop was still there. 

Daniel had been there, he gave them his gift.

Where did her son go?

And was he dead?


End file.
